Blood,Fire and Vengence
by TheMajorsMate
Summary: SEQUEL TO BLOOD AND FIRE Takes place directly after the end of the first book. The aftermath of the battle and the sacrifice of Maria.


**A/N:**

**I'm baaaaaack! Hey all! Thanks for hanging in there. I finally have my life intact and as promised I have started the Sequel to Blood & Fire. I'm warning ya'all now; I needed tissues to write this first part, and kept crying every time I needed to proof read it! Love to hear from you all as usual and of course, I still don't own Twilight, or Jasper *sigh* but the Members of the Army and Scar are all mine. So there. Also, thanks to Mynxi who lent me her Jasper for a weekend. He really helped get me out of my funk and now maybe my own Jasper and Peter muses will materialize again. I'm waiting for you boys!**

**Enjoy!**

Previously in the Epilogue of Blood & Fire….

Izzi watched the vampires in front of her for a while, she took in the scars and all the features and tried to place them into the shadows of her mothers stories...yes, this was The God of War and his coven. He was...no. No words could describe what he looked like and all the words that came to mind made her feel like a 18 year old school girl, but even still, he seemed familiar, she knew his face, his eyes, she remembered him, like a memory from a dream.

"I know you." She whispered softly, walking forward, her hand reaching up of its own free will to touch his cheek, "I..I remember you..."

It was like electricity, her fingers trailed my cheeks. The world fell away; her eyes were sparked with slight recognition.

"Bella? I mean, Izzi, you remember me? Its Jasper, I knew you when you were human…I, I thought…" I trailed off as her eyes darkened and I felt anger come off her in waves.

"I remember you, but you were not a Whitlock then. You were part of the Cullens then. You were part of the coven that broke me!" She spat out. My head fell and my shoulders dropped. She hated me. I felt her hand lift my chin; she looked at me with sad eyes.

"You were never one of them though, were you? They never got you, they hurt you too." She didn't ask a question, it was a straight fact. I nodded.

"We can talk later?" She asked

"Of course" I nodded again.

"Red, Report." Her eyes were black again, like a shutter dropping closed. Izzi was gone, Enyo was back. Red saluted and the remaining Army fell into ranks. Okay, that was pretty impressive. In my day, it was never that easy to control the troops.

"We, we lost many members Enyo, a few need to go search for limbs and scent out the…the ashes…the ones that are missing arms or legs will be fine, um, unless their limbs were destroyed when you and Khali took out the remaining enemies. Then I can give you exact numbers" He let out a nervous chuckle.

She nodded and sent the army off to search for their brothers and/or lost parts. Finally I started taking in the rest of the vampires around me. Demitri was surveying the area with a calculated expression. Good man, he hadn't let his guard down yet. Peter and Char had grins on their faces and Caius…well shit, would you look at that? If a vampire could have googly eyes then he had them down pat. I followed his line of sight to set of sex kitten eyes. Wow, I did not see that coming. Izzi was waving her hands in front of her sisters' face with frustration. Oh this might not end well.

"Scar! What the hell? Snap out of it damnit!" She spun to look at Caius and growled, she was on him in a flash, his head in her hands, and her teeth at his neck. "What have you done to her? Tell me!" Another growl filled the air and shadowed blurs shot past me and towards my mate. Before I could react, (which is saying somethin') Izzi was picked up and thrown 10ft away. She got up shocked at the actions of her sister who was not crouched protectively in front of the former King.

"Scarlett? What? Why? What has he done to you?" She was giving off waves of sadness, grief and a surprising amount of anger, shit this was not good. I projected her feelings to her sister who snapped out of her trance. Scarlett's eyes widened and I could feel her regret and confusion swirl.

"Izzi? Oh shit! What did I do? I'm so sorry! I don't know what the fuck happened. Really, I'm so sorry!" Instinctively she turned into Caius's arms, his own arms wrapping around her.

"Um Izzi…I believe I know what happened, even if Scarlett hasn't realized it yet." Izzi looked at me, she was still hurting. I couldn't allow that. I walked to her and slowly held my arms to her; I needed to know if she could feel the pull too. She did. She was in my arms in a flash, sobbing softly.

"Why did my sister attack me? What did I do wrong?"

"Shhh darlin' you didn't know what you were doing. By the looks of it, your sister has found her mate too, and when you attacked him she acted instinctively to protect him. I don't think she even realized it." I looked over at Scarlett who was watching me with rapt attention. Her head swiveled to Caius who smiled down at her.

"I believe the good Major is correct my dear. I feel the pull to you, do you feel it my dear?"

Scar looked at him, then at me and then at Izzi. She nodded softly, her eyes downcast; she was still feeling guilty and remorseful about her earlier actions.

"I do. I feel a tugging in my chest. It only goes away when I'm touching you."

"That's called the Mating Pull. It will always lead you back to your mate's arms. It will hurt when you are apart and let you know if your mate is ever in danger." Char broke into the conversation while looking dreamily at Peter.

"Oh."

It came from both Izzi and Scar. Slowly, Izzi walked up to Scar and held out her arms. The sisters flew together, pulling together and sobbing laughs engulfing them. Their emotions were confusing to say the least. I put it down to the loss of their mother that they seemed to have pushed down for now and the happiness they were feeling for each other at the thought of finding their mates at the same time. I felt a frown come on, they would have to deal with their loss soon or it might cause some problems later on. We still didn't know who had sent the army that had caused my sire to sacrifice herself for her family. I broke out of my thought when I felt Izzi's small hand wrap around my own. Scar was back in Caius's arms, a smile tugging at her lips.

"So, you found your mate, and I've found mine in the same day?" her eyes flicked to mine. Izzi looked up and me quickly, our eyes meeting before she looked away quickly and nodded. I knew she would be blushing if she could. YES! She acknowledged the pull. I was doing a fucking happy dance on the inside. She wants me! Oh yeah! She wants me! On the outside, I smiled and nodded at her. Jeez! What's with all the nodding today?

"We can't ever do things on different days can we sister? Well beside you showin' me up with your gift developing first huh?" Scar laughed and pulled Izzi into a hug again.

"Guess not…" She trailed off as Red approached her, the Army trailing in respected silence behind him. It was like a black cloud of sorrowful emotions as they walked silently. Red was carrying two urns.

I tensed. Shit was about to hit the fan.

The one urn he was holding was larger than the other and made of black marble. Some other members were also carrying small urns; they were being supported by one or two other vampires who seemed to actually be supporting them lest they fall to the floor in grief. Fuuuuk! The pain was close to bringing me to my knees. I needed to concentrate on something else so I turned my attention to the urns the men were carrying. They were all made differently, each unique and out of different materials or metals, but each had the same crest engraved into the front. I guess they had collects the ashes of their fallen brethren. This in itself was different from my day. We used to leave the ashes of the fallen to blow to the winds.

I watched the sisters cautiously, noticing that their stances had stiffened. Looking at each other, they moved slowly towards Red who was now kneeling with the urns in his hands. He was sobbing softly, the pain and grief was rolling off him in waves. The rest of the army was similar but what Red was feeling blew me away. Did he love Maria that much? Had she changes so much that he felt that he had lost everything? Izzi had briefly laid her hands on the large black urn, bending her head to place a kiss on its surface before handing it to Scar who did the same. She took the urn from Izzi and handed it to Caius who took it from her without any words. Looking back to Red, Izzi and Scar, the three were hugging each other, the girls whispering words of comfort at such a low volume that I couldn't make out the words. I saw Red look at each of them before bowing his head again before whimpering with soft broken words.

"Oh fuck me sideways." I heard Peter murmur before sitting down and hugging Charlotte to his body, his head buried in her hair.

A guttural scream shocked me back to the comforting trio, who where now a duo. Scar had grabbed the urn out of Reds hands and jumped up, running to the battlefield where one lone soldier on his knees, a hollow look on his face. I concentrated on him, trying to get a read from him. His emotions were fluctuating between grief, rage, sorrow, anger, loneliness and revenge. Crap, crap, crap. Pete was right. Fuck me sideways in a bus on Sunday. We would have to watch him. He hadn't just lost family today. If his emotions were anything to go by, he had just lost his mate. I watched, slightly shocked at the man. Had I got to meet the pair, I was sure I would have met the first truly mated gay pair in Vampire History, not men just fucking around with each other for sexual release. I watched as he bowed his head at Scarlett's' approach but she just threw herself at him and together they shook with tears that they desperately wished would fall. He held Scarlett so tightly he would have broken her back in several places had she been human. His shoulders were shaking violently while she gathered the ashes on the ground into the urn before she returned him into her embrace.

A burning erupted in my chest, bring forth a deep growl from me and drawing me to my mate without realizing it. She was curled in a ball on Red's lap. His eyes were blurry with unshed venom and Izzi was shaking.

"Major! Please! Help her!" Red called, his whole body was shaking, his hands resting around Izzi's shoulders.

"What happened Red?"I asked softly as I pulled Izzi off him. She automatically wrapped herself around me and continued to shake. Once again the grief around Red multiplied and I stifled a groan. Another heart wrenching scream sounded from the unfortunate male with Scarlett and I noticed Caius had handed the large marble urn to Peter before taking off to his mates' side to comfort her and possibly the shell of a vampire with her.

"I, he," Red broke off and sobbed again before trying to pull himself together. He looked at me with pleading eyes; I nodded and sent him waves of calm and reassurance. He gulped back a sob and glanced at the male with Scar and Caius.

"I found some remains…his watch, his knife and his ring…my best friend…Mark is gone. THEY KILLED MARK!" he roared and the pain engulfed me again. Fuck. Could Mark have been the destroyed mate? Red had told me about Mark. When the girls had been found at the getaway Ranch, Mark and Red had been the girls chosen 'steeds' for the run back to base. After the change the four had become fast friends and had always looked out for each other. Red and Blondie or Matt and Mark had taken the role as big brothers to the girls off the battlefield and loved them as close siblings. Red had told us that while they were all family, off the field, he saw himself and Izzi as twins while Scar and Mark had gotten close too and had also seen themselves as twins. He said it gave everyone good laughs that out of the two set of 'twins' the girls were stronger. Oh God. Not only had the girls lost their Mother and other soldiers, family members, but they had lost their brother and self-declared twin as well. I thought about what I would feel if I lost Peter, or Char...If I wasn't dead, my heart would have given out. My grip tightened around the woman in my lap as my hand reached to the place my heart used to beat. The thought was horrifying. I glanced to Charlotte and Peter, my own family who had saved me from this very Army so many years ago. They smiled softly back at me, Char's eyes filled with venom. I resumed whispering reassurances in Izzi's ear, while rocking myself softly in comfort as well. Caius had managed to bring Scar back to the group but she was in much the same position as Izzi was with me, the small steel urn clutched in her arms as she sobbed shakily. The male was walking close by, one of his hands almost glued to the urn in her hands. His eyes were dead and unseeing. I felt for him, but his emotions were muted, hazy. There was nothing I could do for him at the moment. It was as if his soul had been ripped in two, like he couldn't feel anything but a black hole of loss. Maybe Marcus could help him later.

Char and Peter had gotten up and moved to comfort Red, Char hugging him and holding him close while Peter stoically resting a hand on his shoulders, gripping what was apparently Marias Urn carefully in the other. For once, Peter was silent; leading his support to the man he had come to feel was part of our family. I looked around the rest of the Army; they were all comforting each other, hugs and sobbing all-round. Many of them had moved to the male by Scarlett and Caius, offering their comfort and holding him tightly as he broke again. His guttural screams and cries tearing at everyone's souls. I just sat and watched, my murmurings to my mate continuing on automatic as I took in all the emotions around me and sent some calm around to every vampire in the area. The Army had shuffled closer to us now, them all looking warily at Caius and I, asking permission to grieve with the only female members left of their military family. With a glance at Caius then back to the soldiers, we both nodded slowly.

They moved forward one and a time, but only two actually approached the pair of us. A lithe vampire of Asian descent walked slowly and respectfully up to Caius who automatically got wary again. This male exuded danger and confidence to the point where even I would be wary. He murmured something to Scar and her head whipped towards him. Suddenly he had an arm full of sobbing female vampire. All I could hear was her murmuring,

"They're gone Quentin…they're gone…"

He took it all in stride though and dropped to the floor to hug her and whisper to her, his own red eyes glazing over slightly. Some others came and formed a circle around the pair, hands grasping for each other to find some comfort in the midst of tragedy. Caius stood next to them watching carefully but respectfully.

The male who came up to me was an older vampire, also of Asian descent and I'll be damned if he wasn't a huge fucker. I was tall at 6ft but he was at least a head taller than me and built like a brick shithouse. This in itself was a fucking mystery to me. I though Asians were supposed to be short shits! I fought the urge to growl at this giant who wanted to take my Izzi from my lap. His head snapped up to mine before he lowered himself to his knees and showed his neck to me in a submissive gesture. I nodded slowly and watched as his hand went out to touch Izzi's shoulder. She stiffened at the contact but relaxed when he spoke.

"Belly-bean?" His voice was deceptively soft. Quiet but strong. Bella-bean? What the hell was that about? That sounded like something Emmett would call her when she was still human! Besides, I thought she went by Izzi now? I heard Peter stifle a snicker and glared at him, now was not the time for laughing.

Slowly Izzi turned in my lap and looked at the mountain o' muscle in front of her. She whimpered then launched herself out of my lap and into his arms. This time I did growl, I couldn't help it, but I managed to stifle it quickly. His arms wound around her like you would a small child. I could feel the growl starting in my chest again and instead focused on his emotions. He felt nothing but comforting and sorrow. The painful emotions were starting to wear on me but I couldn't block everything out now. I needed to know who was feeling what in case a problem arose.

"She's gone Winston…and Marks gone too! Poor Kurt! They were mates! I don't know what to do now… We'll never see them again, or laugh with them again. I don't know what to do!" She was sobbing again and the mountain o musc…err…Winston looked up at me. He was asking permission again…for what though? Damnit he was already holding my mate what more did he want? Searching his emotions and feeling nothing deceptive, I nodded cautiously.

"Come on now, Belly-bean. They will always be with us. You never really loose the ones you love. And we'll all be there for Kurt; we will help him get his revenge when the time is right. We will all get our revenge, but for now, remember what you said to me when I joined the Army? When I was looking for death after I lost my wife?" She nodded into his shoulder. "Nah ah Belly, use your words." He chided her softly.

I could hear her grumble at the nickname and then she turned her face upwards and looked at him.

"I told you that you would always have her with you, when the sun shines or the rain falls that everything that brought her joy will remind you of her and all the things she loved. Everything around the world will bring her back to you, if only for a moment. You just need to accept that death is a part of life, vampire and human alike."

He nodded again at her and she sighed.

"Thank you, but it just hurts so much." She looked over his shoulder at the Army who were all on their knees, arms around each other, some sobbing into others arms with grief of the others close to them that they had lost today. I found Scar was in the arms of another male, Caius hovering close by but letting her grieve with her family. And it was a family. They may be an efficient Army, but looking over them all comforting each other, holding each other as brothers would, they really were a family. Izzi was on her own feet again, Winston hovering closely as she made her way through the ranks, hugging and dry sobbing with everyone. As she made her way through the one side, Scar made her way though the other, the other male walking next to her protectively. Caius moved next to me, his eyes wide as he watched this Army interact.

"This is like no army I have ever seen." He was in awe, but hit tone was respectful. Again, I nodded.

"They might be and army, but their feelings are of a strong family. You can't imagine how much this placed has changed since we were here last. It's hard to wrap your mind around it, but they truly feel like they are all family, a family that not only lost, by the count of the urns, 12 younger brothers, but an older brother who was one of their commanding officers, and their Mother as well. They are also all feeling the pain and sorrow for their other brother who lost his mate; they are all sharing their losses and grieving, but trying to keep each other strong and standing as well. Believe me when I say that calling Maria their mother is odd for me, but that's how they all feel now. Like they lost their mother. Half their family was destroyed today and we have to help each and every one of them grieve and heal and soon. None of the other soldiers mates, but they are showing extreme emotions at the destruction of Mark especially. It's as if they are each developing the need for revenge on behalf of his mate. These vampires here have seriously strong emotional bonds to each other which I'm sure Marcus will confirm later. It's not as painful for them as it is for Marks mate, but its damn close. The last thing we need is them running off and wreaking havoc around the world, searching for the ones who cause this. It would attract too much attention."

He nodded at my words acknowledging the fact that if we didn't help the Army heal; it was highly likely that Aro would get wind of us.

I turned to my left, my ears picking up the sound of running. There were two vampires on approach, but before I could do anything to organize everyone, Izzi's voice rang out clear and strong,

"FORM RANKS! STAY TOGETHER!"

**A/N:**

**So there is the first chapter. Hope you are all okay *sigh* poor Mark. And his poor mate, Kurt. Don't worry, they will get their revenge.**

**Please let me know what you think, your reviews are greatly appreciated and as always, I will try to reply to all reviews, take your suggestions into account and generally enjoy hearing from you!**


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